Randall Munroe posted an XKCD comic on Monday that so perfectly sums up the illogical nature of the most pervasive argument against the existence of man-made global warming: “The climate has changed before.”
Let me complete that fallacy with its obvious conclusion: The climate has changed before, therefore man cannot be causing the climate to change now. This is kind of like saying “Wildfires have happened naturally before, so man cannot cause a wildfire.”
Yes, Earth’s climate has waffled around for as long as the planet has existed. But it has happened slowly over the course of millennia. Right now, our climate is changing faster than it ever has in 22,000 years, and we know why: we’re pumping carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. We have known that these gases cause warming since the early 19th century. This is not a new science. But for some reason we’re still arguing about it.
Enough from me, though. Please just consider this comic. I hope you find it as funny and thoughtful as I did.
earth_temperature_timeline
(XKCD)